Bespoke StructuresWhipsnade Zoo

We were approached by Whipsnade Zoo in Dunstable for their new “Base Camp Pizzeria”.

The brief was to create a River Cottage experience within the grounds as a point of difference destination to their main restaurant. Also encompassing ethos and philosophy of River Cottage through food and its environment.
The concept was to create some theatre fitting within the ethos and visually looking like River Cottage with extra touches. Their target audience was to be families, locals and Zoo members.

With this brief we drew up some plans and arranged a meeting at the zoo to go over all of the details.

Once things were finalised a crew of Abbas members made the trip to Bedfordshire including an overnight stop to begin installation.

With the location being a working zoo we had to take in to consideration the animals. This meant avoiding building at specific times. The crew had to stop during The Birds of the World demonstration as the birds could get distracted/disorientated by noise and machinery.
The location of the marquee was to be close to the monkeys so we had to ensure that our equipment and generators were silent.

Installation was completed in a day with interior finishing touches to be completed by the Zoo.

The Abbas crew installing the River Cottage Style Overhang Marquee

Retro Bulb lighting being installed

Counter built from multiple apple crate bars

Bespoke made half barrel seats with rustic hessian pads.

Completed Base Camp Pizzeria

We always like a challenge here at Abbas Marquees with no job too big or small.